Reluctant Guardian

by Elisha Bugg

"No, that's not what's bothering you," Tynan replied, pausing his game to turn and face Thane with his arms resting over his crossed legs.

  "You've been moody these last couple of days."

  "Well moodier than normal," he laughed when Thane raised his eyebrows.

  "Is it, Anya?"

  “Why do you assume it’s her?”

  “Only she can make you this tense and grouchy.”

  Tynan was right.

  Thane knew he had a fiery temper, but not even Duncan could get under his skin like she could. Every time he was around her, he found it increasingly difficult to control himself.

  "Why do I keep torturing myself with her?"

  "She's your mate, Thane. You know you can't resist it, why bother trying?"

  "She deserves better," he sighed.

  "You're a good person, Thane. What happened to your family and the events after wasn't your fault. Anyone would have done the same. Let her decide whether or not she wants to be with you."

  "I killed so many people, Tynan. I doubt many would have reacted so badly. Only Lucas was able to talk me out of it."

  Thane had been on the brink of being classed a rogue. Lost to the wolf for years, killing anyone who stumbled too close.

  Not only were guilty lives lost, but also innocent people, and those of fellow Guardians that Thane had never had the opportunity to work with.

  No doubt they had all come to put an end to him, yet Lucas hesitated, believing he could reason with the wolf.

  He hadn't been wrong.

  "Yeah, but the amount of good you've done since outweighs the bad. It's our job to kill the hunters and rogues, we can't always help when innocent people get caught up in the fight. We've all saved more than we've killed."

  Thane rested his head back against the chair and sighed again.

  He didn't care how many hunters he killed when he knew they'd kill indiscriminately. It was the innocent people and his own kinds blood on his hands that bothered him.

  He'd become a monster the moment he gave in to his desire for vengeance, and he still felt like a monster now.

  Nothing he did could ever erase what he'd done.

  Anya deserved something more. Someone who could protect her. Someone who she wouldn’t have to fear losing control.

  "Thane?"

  "What?" he groaned, lifting his head to look across the room at Tynan.

  "You said you needed an inconspicuous way to free Lucas. How about a strong acid that would eat through the chains?"

  "That could work. It would need to be powerful enough to work in a small dosage though so I can hide the vial. What would be strong enough to do that? It's a thick chain," Thane explained, leaning forward in his chair, excited they may have a lead at last.

  "I don't know," Tynan shrugged, scratching his head as Thane groaned, slumping back once again.

  "But I do know a place where we can find out."

  After a short walk through the busy town, they arrived outside a small bookstore which Tynan insisted had what they were after. Thane was sceptical. The store looked tiny.

  "Wouldn't a library be better? They have more books after all."

  "Nah. This place is deceiving. I came in the other day and they have tons of books. It's, cosy. Plus this would be more private."

  Thane couldn't argue with his logic. A small bookstore like this couldn't attract too many customers. A library on the other hand could have tons. All of which posed the risk of others over-seeing what they searched for.

  A little bell above the door chimed loud and shrill, making Thane's ears ring as he stepped through the glass doors, coming to stop when he saw the magnitude of people inside.

  “So much for privacy,” he grumbled, frowning when a group of young boys pushed past him in a rush to get to the counter. He righted his footing and growled loudly causing them all to turn to him.

  "Sorry," they muttered as they squirmed away from his murderous gaze.

  Before he would have laughed at their cowardice, now he pitied them.

  He could feel himself softening because of her. A dangerous thing when he needed to remain vigilant. He couldn't afford to let his guard down, especially in a place as busy as this.

  He tried to ignore the other customers, engrossed in his search whilst Tynan sat in the corner, propped up against the cash register, but it was impossible.

  One old lady kept hovering around him, occasionally commenting on the books he picked up, making him suspicious. Another asked him if he needed help with anything. Even a group of younger girls he hadn’t noticed upon entering tried to flirt with him and gain his attention, standing close and purposely brushing past him.

  This was all very new and strange to him. He was used to people keeping their distance, whispering about him as though he were unaware.

  "Need a hand?" a feminine voice asked from behind him. A soft and alluring sound that raised every hair across his neck and arms.

  Thane spun around to face her, conscious what he could say to her after the distance between them when he kissed her three days ago.

  He found himself at a loss for words, but not because of feeling awkward like he feared. No, she was dressed like something out of a fantasy. Her shirt tight, straining to stay shut around her ample breasts. The top few buttons left open giving him the slightest peek of her black lace bra beneath.

  Thane clenched his fists tight to restrain himself from reaching out and touching her. His eyes roaming lower, to a sinfully short black skirt that stopped half way between her knees and her bottom. A small slit on the left leg, showing a dream catcher tattoo on her leg he’d never seen before.

  Thane continued to stare, savouring the sight of her, feeling a hunger to caress her skin and taste her flesh.

  "Do you want my help or not?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips, though he could see the colour blooming in her cheeks.

  All he could do was nod, unable to think or speak a coherent sentence with her standing in front of him like that.

  "What are you looking for?"

  "A book on acids," Tynan replied for him, walking toward them and placing a kiss on Anya's cheek.

  "Acid? Alright, let me see what we've got," she replied with a smile, patting Tynan's chest as she made her way back to the cash register.

  Thane turned to Tynan and raised a brow, curious as to when the two of them became so close.

  Had he known she worked here? From his huge smile and casual shrug as he strolled up to her side, Thane knew the answer.

  He thought it was only Edwin who interfered in his life, trying to bring the two of them closer.

  "Depending on the amount of detail you're after, we have several books that might be helpful," Anya told him as he approached. "The chemistry books are the most detailed, where the encyclopedias have brief descriptions."

  "The chemistry books will do fine. Where are those?" Thane asked, speaking to her for the first time.

  "Here," she replied, pointing to an overflowing shelf. "Want anything else?"

  In his head, Thane asked her to kiss him, to let him take her right there. His groin ached painfully as he adjusted his tight jeans.

  "I don't know where to start," he admitted, settling for the half-truth rather than his desires.

  "My shift will be over in a few minutes, then I'm all yours," she smiled, heading back to the register once again to serve a young boy.

  Thane wanted that to be true. Wanted her to mean those words in another way, but he couldn't subject her to that, not when she didn't know what she was getting herself into.

  He watched her working whilst he waited.

  She seemed to enjoy her job, but the thought of her wearing such an outfit on a regular basis, surrounded by young boys and men infuriated him.

  As he glanced around the compact store, he felt a growl escape his throat when he spotted the boy she was serving looking down her blouse, and another ogling her legs. Did she not notice that almost every male here was looking at her with hunger in
their eyes?

  A group of boys gossiped behind him, leering at her.

  Thane walked over, and leaned against the shelving, purposely knocking into it so a loose book landed on one of them. When the boy turned and opened his mouth to curse at him, he paused snapping it shut again.

  Thane couldn't contain his smile.

  "Looking at anything interesting, are you?" he sneered, leaning casually against the shelf.

  "N-no. We were just leaving,” one of the boy’s stuttered.

  "I didn't know she had a boyfriend," another of them whispered to his friends with a frown.

  Thane liked that other people thought she was his. It put a smile on his face knowing that he'd scared them away.

  Hopefully they'd think twice about coming back to stare.

  Perhaps he wasn't going soft after all.

  Halfway back to the desk, he froze. In front of him stood Anya, arms crossed over her chest, with an eyebrow raised above one eye, Tynan smiling wide behind her.

  "What was that?" she demanded.

  What could he say? He couldn't tell her he didn't want them looking at her. That he didn't like any other male's eyes on her body. He was becoming too jealous and possessive already.

  "Nothing," he lied, walking past her and elbowing Tynan in the ribs as he continued to smirk.

  "Do you always get this many people in here?" he asked, unable to keep the bitterness from his tone. He'd expected it to be quiet when he saw it from the outside. He couldn't have been more wrong.

  "Yeah, it's always busy on a weekend, though Mrs. Baldwin complains it's quiet during the week when she's by herself."

  "Not surprising," Thane huffed, looking toward the old woman she pointed out. The same old woman that kept following him.

  Anya laughed, rubbing his arm with tenderness before crouching down to search the shelves.

  He'd slipped up, admitting to her he was jealous, but the sound of her laughter put the smile back on his face.

  "Why acids?" she asked.

  "I can't discuss it here," he whispered in her ear, taking an indulgent breath by her neck.

  "Why didn't you just look online?"

  "Ty suggested to come here. Now I know why," Thane grumbled, looking pointedly at Tynan, whose grin just widened further.

  Thane would have to teach him a lesson later.

  “I don’t know how to say this, but if what I think you’re searching for is correct, you won’t find anything in these books,” Anya replied with a solemn look on her face.

  “No chemistry book will help, or I would have told you sooner.”

  “What do you mean?” Tynan frowned as he stepped closer.

  “Maybe we should discuss this somewhere more private?”

  “Make yourself at home,” Thane told Anya as they all entered his house, “I’ll-”

  “I’ll make some drinks, you two can go in the living room. Just don’t un-pause my game,” Tynan interrupted, beating Thane to it.

  Thane shook his head, but led the way, making himself comfortable on the sofa, stretching his arm across the back cushions.

  Instead of sitting in the armchair like he’d expected, Anya sat beside him, curling her feet beneath her and clasping her hands together on her lap.

  “W-what were you saying about the acid?” Thane asked, needing to fill the silence.

  Why did he feel so awkward? He was never nervous like this, especially around women. It was usually them that steered clear of him.

  “I was just saying that no conventional acids will be able to eat through the silver chains like I assumed you were after.”

  “That was what we were hoping for.”

  “There are a few acids that will dissolve the silver, but that will take hours which you just won't have. Not only that. They give off a noxious gas that in such a confined area could cause problems.”

  “It would draw too much attention,” Thane sighed, slouching back into the cushions, rubbing a hand across his face.

  He had hoped it would be something simple, but instead he found himself at yet another dead end. What was he going to do? He needed a way of breaking those chains.

  Brute strength wouldn’t work on such things. He could see they’d been strengthened by a spell, meaning Lucas wouldn’t be able to break free. Even both of them pulling together was unlikely to do a thing.

  The acid had been his only lead.

  “What about magic?” Anya suggested, shuffling on the sofa so that she faced him.

  “What?”

  “Well, before I wouldn’t of thought about it, but surely a witch or something would know a way to break them?”

  “It’s possible, but I doubt the witches I know would be able to help.”

  Heleana was an incredibly talented witch, but she used her powers to heal and to foresee the future. He doubted she would know such a thing. Then again, she might know someone who did.

  “What about Erebus?” Tynan suggested as he entered carrying three drinks.

  “Erebus?” Anya asked, knitting her eyebrows together.

  “He’s a demon," Thane answered, running his hand through his hair.

  Maybe Tynan was onto something.

  Erebus was likely to ask for something in return, but what would that matter if it helped Lucas.

  Anya would finally have her father and he would see his friend free once more.

  "How could a demon help? Do they have magic?"

  “Yes. Very powerful magic.”

  "He's a Guardian just like us. Only, being a demon means he tends to stay on his own plane. He won't like being asked to come top-side. But it's worth a shot, right?" Tynan asked, taking his seat on the floor in front of the TV.

  Thane considered Erebus a friend, but he and Lucas had never seen eye to eye.

  Would he help, knowing who they were trying to save?

  #

  Anya was growing tired after a long and disappointing day.

  When Thane and Tynan had turned up at the bookstore, she'd assumed they'd come to tell her their plan, but like her own searching, they'd come up empty handed.

  Who was this Erebus they spoke of? Why did his name sound so familiar?

  Suddenly a loud knock sounded at the door, making her jump out of her skin.

  "That's probably Thane. Let him back in while I kill this boss," Tynan spoke around a mouthful of cake, making her chuckle.

  "Hey," she called as she opened the door, expecting to come face to face with Thane.

  Instead, a tall, muscular man with eyes like fire stared down at her with a sly grin.

  "You must be Anya," he replied, his voice soft and lilted as he looked her up and down. "You've certainly changed over the years."

  Anya continued to stare at him, unable to move, or speak.

  "Don't panic. I'm not here to eat your soul," he joked, trying to put her at ease.

  It didn't work.

  Never had she expected to come face to face with a demon.

  He was nothing like she'd imagined. Not that she knew what to expect. Just, something different.

  Perhaps it was because Tynan told her that demons stayed on their own plane, that they didn't like coming 'top-side', as he called it. But this man in front of her looked like any other man you might see walking down the street. Except for those eyes.

  His eyes seemed to reflect the flames of hell, shimmering all different shades of orange, red and yellow, reminding her of the face from her memories.

  How was it possible that she knew this demon?

  "Is Thane here?"

  "N-no," she replied, shaking her head vigorously.

  "He left about an hour ago. He didn't say where he was going, or when he'd be back."

  "Erebus," Tynan called from behind her, pushing past to embrace the man before them.

  "Since when were we on a hugging basis, cat," he mocked, tapping a hand across Tynan's back.

  "Don't play coy. You know you missed me."

  "Like a hole in the head," he replied w
ith a smirk, rolling his eyes. "Where is Thane? He said this was important."

  "He left to speak with Edwin."

  To her surprise the demon growled, the fire in his eyes intensifying. Did he not like Edwin? Or was he annoyed that Thane had left?

  "He should be back soon. Come in and I'll let him know you're here."

  Anya didn't know why she felt so uneasy around him. But as she sat watching him and Tynan playing on a game, acting like old friends, she couldn't get comfortable. She squirmed in her seat, fiddling with her hair and the hem of her skirt.

  Why was his presence bothering her more than any other person she'd met? He seemed like a nice guy. Friendly and playful.

  She doubted Thane or Tynan would be friends with someone who wasn't. But there was something about him that put her on edge.

  "Do I bother you?" he asked spinning around on the floor to face her.

  Anya had been so absorbed in her thoughts, she hadn't even noticed Tynan exit the room, leaving her alone with him.

  "No," she lied, sinking into the cushions further.

  "Don't lie to me. You're nervous. Why?"

  Anya shrugged her shoulders, unable to give him a clear answer. Truth was, she didn't know why he bothered her.

  "Perhaps I should come back later," he suggested with a sigh.

  "No," she blurted, sitting up straight in her chair.

  "I'm sorry, but we need you to help free Lucas."

  "I see. So that's why Thane called me," he commented, scratching his stubbled chin. "Lucas and I never really got on. Why would I want to help free him?"

  "Surely you wouldn't leave one of your own at the mercy of a hunter?"

  "But he's not one of my own, is he? I'm a demon. He's a shifter."

  Anya didn't understand.

  How could he leave a fellow Guardian in the hands of a hunter? Surely he knew what they were capable of.

  What could Lucas have done to make him hate him that much?

  "He's still a Guardian. I thought you protected one another?"

  "Tell that to your dear old dad," he retorted, scrunching his nose up in disgust.

  "How did you know?"

  "That's he's your dad? I keep up to date with my work, even from the different planes. You never know when a war will involve us all."

  She supposed that made sense. Knowledge was power after all, and this man seemed to radiate power like a storm. She felt sorry for anybody who ended up on the wrong side of him.